


Day 357

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [357]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28270500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [357]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 357

Varric had cleared his schedule for the day to spend some time in his workshop with Sunna and Luka, tinkering with his printing press. It was painfully slow to reapply ink to each page, so much so that it limited how many copies of his books he could print, with limited the income they generated. He had tried creating automatic ink applicators in the past, but they had all left the blocks either too wet or too dry. A dwarven hand could apply the ink evenly but a mechanical one couldn't adjust the stroke as needed.

"You worked with Gerav on his mechanical Rivani," Varric said to Luka. "I can only assume he used runes or something to augment the mechanical parts right?"

Luke shook her head. Sunna still didn't talk much but she was listening intently to the dwarves as they spoke. She hadn't gotten to see the automaton during the festival where Gerav displayed it, but the legend had spread across the city. Varric had maybe helped it along a little. 

"It was much less impressive than we told people," Luka admitted. "We just found a dwarf who was really good at chess. Gerav built a box for him to hide in, complete with controls for the automaton and mirrors to let him see the board. He was the one playing everyone, but that wouldn't have been as exciting a booth."

Varric burst out into laughter at that. He laughed so hard he fell out of his chair. He laughed until tears streamed down his face and he could barely breathe. Sunna clearly didn't get the joke and starred at Varric with her head cocked to one side. Luka laughed a bit, but only in the manner of someone who was used to having to laugh to more important people.

"You mean to tell me," Varric said when he could speak again, "that the templars spent a week investigating your automaton for illegal magic and it was just a guy in a box. They made an official request to Orzammar for a golem expert to determine if it was a new form of golem. They brought in demonologists to determine if you had bound a spirit to control the thing. That curly haired templar personally inspected it and had no idea what was going on but everyone agreed that dwarves can't use dangerous magic anyway and they gave up. But the hole time it was a dwarf in a costume?"

"That's about right, yes," Luka replied, finally getting the joke.

"Still," Varric mused, "The detail on those fingers was pretty damn impressive. To people able to pick up individual pieces without knocking anything over. That takes skill."

"It was all Gerev," Luka said. "Most of my training is in alchemy, not artificing. I was only there to put on a show."

"That's the most important part," Varric insisted. "Without the show people don't know where to look… or where not to work. Do you know how Gerav has survived so long in the Carta?" Luka and Sunna boy shook their heads no. "It's because of Bianca here. She, and her less successful sisters, make him seem too valuable to let go. As long as he comes through when Rhatigan needs him to, even a much better artificer will seem like a pretender next to him. Stick with him kid, and he'll teach you everything you need to know about success."

Luka nodded and Varric looked back at his printing press.

"Now let's see what we can pull apart and make better.


End file.
